Pro1, Ghost touches and other digitizer and display issues

[Rob. S. 1,664]

Sounds like a defective screen. I had the same symptoms earlier this year. I ordered a replacement screen from Fxtec, which is easy to replace, as it's the complete upper half of the phone. If they have them in stock, delivery shouldn't take too long, either. (A cheaper but harder to replace option would be an Elephone U/U Pro display panel from Aliexpress, but these mostly also have black dents in both lower corners.) 

Edited October 16, 2022 by Rob. S.

[EskeRahn 5,471]

(merged thread in here)

[Wheeljack 212]

Okay... so I'm on my third screen right now and it's still behaving after a few months. I'm starting to suspect the culprit that damaged the first two screens may have been a phone case I've attached to the keyboard half of the device.

When closing the phone with a rubber sleeve or a 3d printed hard shell attached to the bottom part (I had both) the screen might not fully close and allow a bit of flex to the screen half when carrying it in a pocket.

I've been running the phone naked since installing the third screen and like already mentioned I don't have any problems so far.

Just a wild guess though.

[EskeRahn 5,471]

12 hours ago, Wheeljack said:

Just a wild guess though.

Interesting theory.

Could be that the lips lift the screenpart just enough so applying pressure in the centre area of the screen part in a pocket just might add enough some to cause the issue over time.

I use flip cases, but the flip is not super stiff (fake leather and some cardboard in between). so not really any pressure protection there.  The bottom part also has a lip gripping the keyboard half, BUT it is really thin, You can slip a piece of paper in over it almost all the way round. And I have not had the display issues (yet?)

[VaZso 1,998]

1 hour ago, EskeRahn said:

Interesting theory.

I also have a case attached to bottom part but I don't have a feeling it lifts anything up generally (also, it could only lift top part altogether, not part of the display module).
However, I have a theory (written here earlier) that display part may getting loose on top of upper part and if it starts moving, data lines of ribbon cable will break sooner or later... there is a wide ribbon cable at bottom which is also the place where applying a pressure usually solves ghost touch issues temporarily.

The loose display part may also come from alcoholic cleaning of display surface related to Covid anyway.
(Alcohol is a solvent for the glue which holds display in upper part.)

Edited October 18, 2022 by VaZso

[Hook 3,043]

Just wanted to point out that I never use a case and I had a severe ghost touch problem at the end of 2020.  I only have a thin textured skin on the back for added grip. 

[Jacob_S 128]

My phone also started having ghost touches a few days ago.

Of course, that was about two weeks after my warranty period ended.

[FlyingAntero 871]

On 10/21/2022 at 10:43 AM, Jacob_S said:

My phone also started having ghost touches a few days ago.

Of course, that was about two weeks after my warranty period ended.

You are so close to the warranty period that I would still ask for repair. Maybe they will do with for goodwill. And if you preordered the phone I think that it is reasonable to calculate warranty period from the receiving date and not order date.

[EskeRahn 5,471]

1 hour ago, FlyingAntero said:

I think that it is reasonable to calculate warranty period from the receiving date and not order date.

I believe that is common practice if not even law. At the least the warranty could not possibly start before the item was sent. No matter how much before it was ordered.

[Hook 3,043]

1 hour ago, EskeRahn said:

I believe that is common practice if not even law. At the least the warranty could not possibly start before the item was sent. No matter how much before it was ordered.

I can confirm it is from the receiving date.  My last screen replacement/repair (never been sure which it was) came when I had a problem occur 3 weeks before the end of my warranty calculated from when I received the phone.  I checked with FxTec and they agreed with my calculation and also agreed that it is when the problem occurs relative to the warranty period and not whether they received it for repair while still in the warranty period (by the time we worked out the trouble-shooting and arranged repair, it was after the end of the warranty period when they received my phone).

I would definitely contact them and see what they say.

[Adrienspawn 126]

Just to add that I'd cracked a small corner of my screen maybe a year or so ago and ordered the cheap screen from China for like 45$ CAD or so shipped. It wasn't a ton of damage though so I waited for a major reason to switch it, which was as of 3ish days ago getting a ton of random ghost touches making it type messages and send pics to people LOL no joke. So I just replaced it and wow it was so hard to remove the screen without a heat gun. Tons of glass shards still stuck and took a while to remove carefully with an xacto knife. Also the 3M adhesive was confusing but I used logic and figure its not super important to get it perfect as long as it's not covering the top speaker/camera. I have to say the colours do seem to pop more as does the brightness. Can't compare side by side but I believe subjectively it's an improvement especially while sliding the brightness up and down there's not as much ugly flickering and green tint. Still not amazing though but less bad. The other thing I'm not sure about is if I'm getting the full screen coverage as before, pixel for pixel. The OS/software seems to react differently to this display and even Instagram seems to want to set more defined boundaries for story images rather than letting them take up the full screen. However I can't complain as the images appear to be more crisp and properly displayed as far as scaling and being true to size without distortion or some elements being cropped out. Much to think about and read into. Important to note I'm running at 514 pixels wide minimum, with text at 100% and all other elements at Smallest.

TLDR: successful screen switch without the new frame, due to ghost touches, resulting in more vivid display with possible other differences. Happy camper.

 

Edit: also to say that initially upon replacing, it wasn't registering touches, but that I restarted it using buttons and also finished off screwing all the back screws and most importantly snapping the plastic bracket back onto the metal frame, after all of which it was then registering just fine. 

Running AICP and didn't do any reset or reflash or anything at all really. Just switched screen while off. 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by Adrienspawn

[John Veness 57]

I had the ghost touches problem one year ago and replaced the screen with one from Aliexpress. One year later and now that replacement screen has started showing the same symptoms.

I think I'm done with this phone

Edited March 9, 2023 by John Veness

[VaZso 1,998]

1 hour ago, John Veness said:

I had the ghost touches problem one year ago and replaced the screen with one from Aliexpress. One year later and now that replacement screen has started showing the same symptoms.

I think I'm done with this phone

Basically it seems to be a problem with ribbon cable of the screen itself.
I suspect if the screen is not glued well or glue releases and the bottom part of the screen can move in relation to its frame, then ribbon cable worns out (looses continuity) causing ghost touches or other screen issues.

That is a wide ribbon cable which is part of the display module.

[ghosttouchscreenguy 7]

My fxtec pro1 that I've had for 2.5 years started to have ghost touch today without me doing particularly anything. I never opened it up or messed with the screen

[Hook 3,043]

52 minutes ago, ghosttouchscreenguy said:

My fxtec pro1 that I've had for 2.5 years started to have ghost touch today without me doing particularly anything. I never opened it up or messed with the screen

It just happens.  You didn't do anything.  Since you are out of warranty, you can order an AlieExpress Elephone U Pro screen (Just the screen, the frame is different).  If you are still running stock Android 9, you'll just have to  remove the old display from the frame and attach the new one and connect the cable.  Or you can have a shop do it for you.

[ghosttouchscreenguy 7]

12 minutes ago, Hook said:

It just happens.  You didn't do anything.  Since you are out of warranty, you can order an AlieExpress Elephone U Pro screen (Just the screen, the frame is different).  If you are still running stock Android 9, you'll just have to  remove the old display from the frame and attach the new one and connect the cable.  Or you can have a shop do it for you.

Got a good aliexpress link for that?

[Hook 3,043]

1 hour ago, ghosttouchscreenguy said:

Got a good aliexpress link for that?

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804591988135.html

[ghosttouchscreenguy 7]

On 4/25/2023 at 12:55 AM, Hook said:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804591988135.html

Same one I was looking at. Thanks! Probably gonna sell the phone now because I'm not really interested in dealing with this issue in another 2.5 years but may as well get a new screen to perhaps fix it first.

Phone was fun while it lasted

EDIT: This aliexpress seller sells screens with big black blotches on it...probably not the best option. Might have to go for one of the more pricey options instead.

Edited May 27, 2023 by ghosttouchscreenguy

[EskeRahn 5,471]

Just to be sure, @ghosttouchscreenguy, Try to press the top part 'together' all way round, we have a while back had reports of odd thing in here if things get loose.
If you can feel it move pressing, there might be a screw that need to be tightened. Or if you can hear a 'click', that might be enough.

[ghosttouchscreenguy 7]

In my experience pressing it together causes it to happen more

[ghosttouchscreenguy 7]

As a temporary fix I found the app Partial Screen was useful to disable the horizontal line of ghost touches I was having

[Hook 3,043]

1 hour ago, ghosttouchscreenguy said:

As a temporary fix I found the app Partial Screen was useful to disable the horizontal line of ghost touches I was having

Interesting workaround while waiting for a new display.  Thanks.  I didn't know about that one.

[ghosttouchscreenguy 7]

It's not perfect but helps at least

[SchattengestaIt 559]

On 4/25/2023 at 6:55 AM, Hook said:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804591988135.html

Does anyone have experience with this link? The reviews don't seem great but that might be the translation.

My (third) screen works perfectly but I want to have spare displays in case it happens again. I also want to try to update the firmware (for the borders) of all the screens in a row so I wouldn't have to care about updating.

[ghosttouchscreenguy 7]

On 5/6/2023 at 1:53 AM, SchattengestaIt said:

Does anyone have experience with this link? The reviews don't seem great but that might be the translation.

My (third) screen works perfectly but I want to have spare displays in case it happens again. I also want to try to update the firmware (for the borders) of all the screens in a row so I wouldn't have to care about updating.

Hey! I just got it today after ordering it back on my last post. Has a big black blotch in the top right corner. Risky to order from them probably. May want to try a pricier option. EDIT: Not maybe, the seller is saying every screen has a defect when I asked for a refund. Of course the only photo they showed is a small, not so bad defect. Only reason I bought it. Didn't mind a small defect. In fact my original pro1 screen has very very small defects in the bottom right and left corners. Thought this was just something they all had. This screen must be a piece of crap.

Maybe try this one instead, slightly better reviews but say there will be small screen defects in the bottom corners https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005380851194.html (mine was not small and was in the top right corner) EDIT: I messaged this seller and they said every one of these ones would have a defect too. Maybe it's smaller than the one I received though.

Edited June 2, 2023 by ghosttouchscreenguy